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Ash Ketchum is the main protagonist of the Pokémon anime series who has always dreamed of becoming a Pokémon Master. As soon as he turned ten years old, he rushed to Professor Oak's Laboratory to get his first Pokémon. He is the first human character to be introduced in the series. Originally wanting to choose Squirtle, Ash ended up receiving the Pokémon Pikachu, as he arrived late leaving him with no other starters to choose from. He sets onto his adventure later in the day. He is currently also the only character shown to have been to all of the regions.

At first, Pikachu did not obey Ash and kept running away, so Ash had to tie him up. After getting chased by a flock of Spearow, Ash attempted to save Pikachu from them; seeing Ash so determined to help him, Pikachu protected Ash from the Spearow by electrocuting the entire flock, thanks to being struck by lightning at that exact moment, supercharging his Electric-type move. From then on, Pikachu and Ash became best friends for life. As an unskilled trainer, Ash started his adventure while meeting his friends Misty, Brock, and capturing new Pokémon.

Ash eventually defeated all the Gym Leaders in Kanto, allowing him to enter in the Pokémon League. Since then, he has continued to travel, journeying through the various regions, making new friends such as Tracey, May, Max, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Clemont, Bonnie, and meeting his childhood friend Serena, challenging all the Gym Leaders, entering each region's Pokémon League, and catching new Pokémon while still following his goal of becoming a Pokémon Master. Since this goal is so close to his heart, he sometimes acts a bit rash and rushes to the next battle he can as fast as possible without thinking. Ash is currently traveling in the Alola region, with his new friends Lillie, Mallow, Lana, Sophocles and Kiawe. Ash's name in the Japanese version of the anime is Satoshi, likely after Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokémon.

Contents

Appearance

Ash wears a few outfits, as seen in the Pokémon anime, he also has black hair and brown eyes, and always wears a cap. Over the past regions, he had different caps.

Original series

In the original series, Ash wears a white and blue short sleeved jacket with gold trim, white collar and sleeves, a dark teal T-shirt, blue jeans with light blue cuffs, black and white sneakers with red dots, green fingerless gloves with light green borders and a red and white cap with a green stylized "L".

Advanced Generation

In the Advanced Generations series, Ash appeared with new clothing - a black and red cap with a green Poké Ball on it and wears a blue sleeveless hoodie with gold trim and a white hood, a black short sleeve undershirt with a red stripe, black fingerless gloves with light green borders, light blue jeans with knee stitchings, and blue sneakers.

Diamond & Pearl

In the Diamond & Pearl series, Ash appeared with another new outfit, consisting of a black vest with a white collar and yellow stripe, a white short sleeve undershirt, blue cargo jeans, black and red sneakers, and his hat's Poké Ball is blue.

Best Wishes!

In the Best Wishes series, Ash appeared with a new outfit, new hat and new sneakers, wears a red and white hat with a blue Poké Ball, wears a blue and white hooded jacket with a golden zipper, black baggy jeans, black fingerless gloves with red borders and his red high top sneakers.

XY

In the XY series, Ash wears yet another new outfit, consisting of a blue collared shirt with short sleeves and white trim, black undershirt darker blue jeans, a red and white hat, and red high top sneakers.

Sun & Moon

In the Sun & Moon series, Ash wears a new outfit different from his previous outfits. He wears a white and blue striped short sleeved loose shirt, brown capris with red outlines with baggy pockets and red folded sleeves at the edge of his capris and shades of blue sneakers. His hat is red, dark blue and gray and the Poké Ball design is white and wears a Z-Ring on his left wrist. Unlike the other region clothes, he doesn't wear any gloves.

Personality

Ash is very determined to be a good Pokémon trainer as seen in every episode. He shows a lot of sympathy towards Pokémon, usually helping and befriending Pokémon he meets on his long journey. He doesn't like trainers who mistreat Pokémon such as Damian, J, and Shamus. He is a role model to many people such as May, Dawn, N, and Serena. Ash never changes his strategy of all-out attacking and using various Moves to defeat other Pokémon. Ash is generally kind, compassionate, and brave, but can be stubborn, short-tempered, impatient, cocky, reckless, and impulsive at times.

Since entering the Kalos region, Ash has demonstrated much greater maturity and level-headiness; both in and out of battles as he continues his journey to be a Pokémon Master. So far, the only Pokémon League he has won is the Orange League in the Orange Archipelago. Since entering the Alola region, Ash is shown to be far more enthusiastic than he did in the Kalos region, while at the same time kept his determination and his love for Pokémon.

Ash has a strong sense of justice to assist Officer Jenny, the Pokémon Rangers and the Police for their mission. He hated all source of evil organizations (such as Team Rocket, Team Aqua, Team Magma, Team Galactic, Team Plasma, Team Flare and Team Skull) and Pokémon Poachers (such as Captain Crook, Iron-Masked Marauder, Rico, J, and the other poachers), because they steal Pokémon from people or the wild and doing bad stuff to them. He risked his own life to protect Pokémon and defeat criminals to put an end to their schemes.

Skills

Ash has shown be quite athletic, he can run, swing on vines, carry some heavy stuff, swim and is very good climber, shown in the shows many times also it was shown in Pokémon 4Ever and in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. Ash can take on a Pokémon attacks for a long period's of time without taking to much damage depending on the attack. Ash has grown to be an amazing battler also he has some performing skills, due to competing in some Pokémon contests also from watching May and Dawn, and he's good at fishing.

Ash has the ability to sense and control aura, as it was shown in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew and once again in the Diamond and Pearl episodes, "Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Part 1" and "Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Part 2". Aaron's Lucario has stated that Ash's aura is the same as Aaron's, and Ash was able to use his aura to find and save Riolu. Ash only used his aura abilities when it has something to do with either Riolu or Lucario.

He also has the ability to use Bond Phenomenon, shown in the XYZ series, with one of his Pokémon, Greninja.

Ash sometimes displays the ability to understand the feelings of Pokémon due to spending a lot of time around them also some of the Mythical or Legendary Pokémon connect to him out of caring for them also for his strong will power to protect them, shown when Azelf chose to connect with him in the Diamond and Pearl Battle Dimension/Galactic Battles series and when Victini linked up with him in the movie Black/White Victini and Zekrom/Reshiram. When he’s connected to those kind of Pokémon he can feel the pain they are in, sense they been captured, see the thoughts and memories along with appearing to him in his dreams as a way of asking for his help or to show him the danger there all gonna be in.

Biography

Anime

Pre-series

Ash helping Serena.

When Ash Ketchum was a little boy, Ash went on a field trip. However, during the trip, it started to rain, and Ash got separated from his group. Ash was forced to take shelter under a hollow tree. However, he noticed a group of Pokémon who were also seeking shelter from the rain. He invited them inside the tree and the Pokémon kept him safe and warm. This experience is what inspired Ash into becoming a Pokémon trainer.

He then enrolled in Professor Oak's Pokémon Summer Camp where he would learn about the basics of Pokémon and being a trainer when he gets older. While looking for a Poliwag, Ash happened upon a young girl and fellow camper named Serena who got lost in the forest while looking for her group. She'd fallen and injured her knee after Poliwag startled her. He wrapped a clean, blue handkerchief with a Poké Ball on each corner around her wounded knee to brace it. But she couldn't get herself up due to the pain, so Ash lent her his hand and helped her stand up. While doing so, he even hugged her. Then he guided her out of the forest and took her back to the campsite.

At some point before starting their journeys, Ash was friends with Gary Oak, Professor Oak's grandson, until they both fished out a Poké Ball on both their lines. After arguing about who keeps it, they broke it in two, each keeping one half as a reminder of that day.

In the Kanto region, Ash often turned his cap backwards when preparing for a battle or to capture a Pokémon. This habit wore off as time went on. However he was shown turning his cap backwards when he was battling Tobias, presumably because Tobias was arguably the strongest trainer he'd ever faced, being the only one who was capable of beating all six of his Pokémon using only two of his own. Although in the Best Wishes series, Ash is seen turning his cap backwards more often. He recently turned his hat around in A Battle of Aerial Mobility! when he used Froakie to help defeat and capture Fletching.

Ash wearing his cap backwards in the 13th season, the first time in many seasons.

Ash has seen every legendary Pokémon from Kanto to Kalos.

In Tekken 6, there is a female character named Eleonore "Leo" Kliesen, who can be customized to look like Ash Ketchum. Coincidentally, both characters were voiced by Veronica Taylor and sounded very similar. However, in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and onwards, Leo's voice grunts are used in later games where it was performed by Veronica Taylor and Leo is now voiced by a German voice actor to speak in her native German language.

Almost every character in the Pokémon anime are featured in the games, such as Misty (who even appeared as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee), Brock (who appeared in Pokémon Red/Blue version), and Lyra (from Diamond & Pearl), as a Trainer♀ in Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver version and Gary, who appeared as main rival in Pokémon Red/Blue version default named as Blue. However, the only game Ash has ever appeared was in Pokémon Puzzle League for the Nintendo 64.

According to Climbing the Walls!, Ash's favorite move is Thunderbolt, mostly since this is his Pikachu's most notable move throughout the entire series.

Out of all the Pokémon Ash has ever had, his Pikachu is currently the only Electric-type that he's ever had.

Aside from the Orange Islands, Johto, second tour through Kanto and Sinnoh in the beginning, Ash sends all his Pokémon to Professor Oak when he goes to a new region.

This is because according to Gotta Catch Ya Later! Ash wanted to start off a new journey with only his Pikachu because he wanted to have the feeling of leaving Pallet Town for the first time, as he did in Pokémon - I Choose You!

Ash's name is based on one of the three options for one's name in Red/Blue/Yellow.

So far, Ash didn't officially catch a Pokémon of the Steel, Psychic, Ghost, or Fairy-types, a genderless Pokémon, a Legendary or a Mythical Pokémon.

Ash has, as of yet, not Mega Evolved any of his Pokémon that are capable of doing so.

Ash has been held captive and use as a hostage for almost every villainous organizations in each Region he's been to.

Team Rocket have taken Ash captive in almost every Region he's been to so he wouldn't get in their way. Sometimes, he was captured with his own Pokémon or others that weren't his so he would't get in their way. Team Rocket only used Ash as a hostage for a Pokémon one time so far.

Team Magma had Ash held captive because Pikachu had something they wanted while making sure he wouldn't get in their way.

Team Galactic has hold Ash captive so he wouldn't get in their way and as a hostage for a Pokémon.

Team Flare did take Ash captive as they wanted to use one of the abilities he poses for their plans, Bond Phenomenon. Also, they are the first villainous organization to do so.

Team Aqua and Team Plasma are the only villainous organizations by far not to have Ash held captive or as a hostage for any reason.